Rock Pigeon
(Columba livia)

Overview

Summary

© Christian Artuso
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The now common Rock Pigeon was introduced to North America in the early 17th century. Most abundant in urban centres where they nest and roost in buildings, they also nest on caves, cliffs and in farm buildings throughout southern and western Canada. The results of the Breeding Bird Survey indicate that the population has shown little overall change in Canada since 1970. Control programs have been used to reduce local populations but non-breeding birds have usually moved in quickly to maintain the breeding population level (Lowther and Johnston 2014). National population goals have not been established for this or other introduced species.

Designations

Population status

Population estimate

Distribution maps

• BirdLife International / NatureServe
• North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS): Relative Abundance and Breeding Distribution (1970-2016)

Migration strategy, occurrence

Responsibility for conservation

Conservation and management

Widely considered a pest, management actions for this adaptable, introduced species have mostly been in the form of control programs. There have been numerous studies on captive birds, mainly in Europe, but few studies of feral populations in North America (Lowther and Johnston 2014).

Bird conservation region strategies

Environment and Climate Change Canada and partners have developed Bird Conservation Region Strategies in each of Canada’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). In these strategies, selected species are identified as priorities for one or more of the following reasons:

• conservation concerns (i.e., species vulnerable due to population size, distribution, population trend, abundance, or threats)
• stewardship responsibilities (i.e., species that typify the regional avifauna or have a large proportion of their range or population in the sub-region)
• management concerns (i.e., species that require ongoing management because of their socio-economic importance as game species, or because of their impacts on other species or habitats)
• other concerns (i.e., species deemed a priority by regional experts for other reasons than those listed above or because they are listed as species at risk or concern at the provincial level)

Select any of the sub-regions below to view the BCR strategy for additional details.

References

• Lowther, P.E., and R.F. Johnston. 2014. Rock Pigeon (Columba livia), version 2.0. In: The Birds of North America (P.G. Rodewald, ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York, USA. Lowther, P.E., and R.F. Johnston. 2014. Rock Pigeon (Columba livia), version 2.0. In: The Birds of North America (P.G. Rodewald, ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York, USA. (Link)